Method of welding ends of wire fabric and the fabric



K. U. SCHYIIJSTEIR 1,955,517.

April IMHO!) OF-IEIZQING ENDS 0F WIRE FABRIC ND THE FABRIC Filed larch12, 1930 2 She'ets-Sheet 2 r /n venfqn I Patented Apr. 17, 1934 METHODOF WELDING ENDS F WIRE FABRIC AND THE FABRIC Karl Uh'ich Schuster,Giengen-on-the-Brenz, Germany, assignor to F. Oberdorfer G. in. b. H.,Heidenheim-on-the-Brenz, Germany Application March 12, 1930, Serial No.435,325 In Germany March 15, 1929 17 Claims. (Cl. 140-3) My inventionrelates to a method of connecttively, c and d are supports for the endsof the ing the ends of wire fabric. fabric which are pivoted to thelinks 9 and h at It is an object of my invention to obtain a e and ,2,respectively, means such as wing nuts connection or seam at the endswhich is withbeing provided for clamping the joints at i, k out thedrawback of seams as made heretofore. and e, ,1, respectively, n and oare plates for hold- To this end I connect the ends of the fabric ingthe ends of the fabric on the supports 0 and d, by welding in suchmanner that the welding respectively, and p is a welding burner which isseam extends in parallel to, but substantially out arranged at the levelof the point where the supof contact with the adjoining weft threads ofports 0- and d are abutted. The apparatus is m the fabric. madeadjustable for arranging the ends of the It is desirable that the seamsby which the fabric at the most suitable angle for the welding ends ofWelding fabric are connected, for instance operation. in screens ofmetallic cloths for paper-manufac- Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, a.and b are the turing machines, should be as strong and yielding ends ofa fabric, or of two fabrics, which are to and should move as smoothly onthe cylinders, be connected by welding. As will appear from as the solidmaterial. Another condition is that Fig. 3, the ends of the fabric orfabrics are so the permeability of the seam should be subtanplaced withrespect to each other that the warp tially equal to that of the solidmaterial as otherthreads 1' in the fabric a are staggered with rewisethe position of the seam will be marked spect to the warp threads s inthe fabric b. As on the paper. shown in Fig. 2 the ends a and b areplaced be- It is rather difficult to obtain a seam which tween thesupports 0, d and the plates 12., 0 so that complies with theseconditions, and seams as the ends of the warp threads overlap eachother. made heretofore are not satisfactory. As a rule If necessary, oneof the weft threads t, u is rethe ends of the fabric are connected bysewing moved. Preferably the ends a, b are so arranged with wire, thesewing wire engaging weft threads with respect to each other that thepitch of the so which are secured to the warp threads by special weftthreads t, u in the vicinity of the seam v is means. Such a seam whilepossessing the deequal, or substantially equal, to the pitch of thesired properties as to strength and yielding has weft threads in thesolid material. The edges of the drawback that it is thick and that thesewing the plates 11. and 0 which are preferably beveled, wire partlyclogs the meshes of the fabric. In are placed so as to conceal the endsa, b, with seams of other types the metal required for conthe exceptionof the free ends of the warp threads necting the ends ofthe fabric alsoincreases the r, s. The sides of the warp threads are in conthickness ofthe fabric at the seam. tact and when heated by the burner p, they Thesedrawbacks are eliminated according to are melted down and weldedtogether. my invention. In addition my method is per- The weldingoperation may be performed in formed by simple means and at high speed,and various ways, for instance, a'plurality of burners the seamsobtained are very uniform. 13 may be distributed all over the width ofthe In the drawings affixed to this specification fabric or, which ismore simple, a single burner, and forming part thereof apparatus forperformor group of burners is gradually moved along the ins y m d, v usm a ns f my seam. I am not limited to a burner as the weldmethod, andthe seams obtained, are illustrated ing element but may perform thewelding operadiagre e y y W y Of example tion by any other, for instanceelectrical, means. In the d a The seam '0 which is obtained in thismanner is v 1 is an elevation of a Welding pp a I substantially equal toa weft thread as to posi- 45 Fig. 2 illustrates, on a largerscale, amethod tion, size, and function and therefore the seam-is in which t e pthreads in the ends of th substantially equal to the solid material ofthe fabric are staggered, fabric as to strength, resiliency and actionon Fig. 3 illustrates the seam obtained, t paper pulp Figs. 4 and 5illustrate two methods in which The welding of the seam v as describedrequires the warp threads are aligned, and a certain skill for obtaininguniformity of the 5 Fig. 6 illustratesa fabric obtained by either offabric at the seam. The welding operation is the methodsillustratedinFigs. 4 and'5. easier if the warp threads are not arrangedin Referring now to the drawings, and first to staggered or overlappingrelation but are aligned Fig. 1, m is abase plate,g andhare links whichas shown in Fig. 6.' In this case the warp -55 are pivoted on said baseplate at i and k, respecthreads are only connected with the threads mywhich are aligned, but not with the threads which are parallel to themso that the transverse web or bar constituted by the seam v in Fig. 3 iseliminated and the wires 1' and s extend across the seam w-w in thenormal position, Fig. 6. This method apart from its requiring less skillthan the method in which the warp threads are staggered. has the furtheradvantage that the ends of the warp threads which project from thefabric are shorter so that the pitch of the weft threads at either sideof the seam is made exactly, and-not only substantially, equal to thepitch in the solid fabric without difliculty.

Referring now to Fig. 4 the ends of the aligning warp threads r and sare so arranged that while the end of the thread s in the fabric b abutsagainst the curved concave end of the thread 1' in the fabric a, the endof the thread r overlaps the end of the thread s. Otherwise the methodis performed as described.

It may also be performed as illustrated in Fig. 5, with the ends of thewires r and s abutting. In both cases the pitch of the weft threads t, uat the ends is equal to that of the threads in the solid fabric.

As will appear from Fig. 6, a fabric the ends of which are connectedinthe manner illustrated in Fig. 4 or Fig. 5 is uniform throughout.

It is possible to thicken the several welds at the warp threads but inthis case the thickened parts should be on the side of the fabric whichis up, that is, on the side which is not in contact with the cylinder orany other part. Besides, the thickened parts should be staggered withrespect to the weft threads t and it.

In this method as well as in the methods described, the weldingoperation may be performed as desired, with or without welding powder,solder, and the like. 7

Various changes may be made in the details disclosed in the foregoingspecification without departing from the invention or sacrificing theadvantages thereof.

In the claims affixed to this specification no selection of anyparticular modification of the invention is intended to the exclusion ofother modifications thereof and the right to subsequently make claim toany modification not covered by these claims is expressly reserved.

I claim:-

1. The method of welding wire fabric which comprises trimming the twoextremities of fabric to be united by cutting them substantially along aline of the endmost weft thread, placing said extremities in position tobring the free end of each warp thread of one extremity in contact withthe free end of a warp thread of the other extremity the length of suchcontacts being approximately equal to the thickness of a weft thread andjoining the so contacting ends by welding, whereby the line of weldtakes the place of a weft thread and simulates the same.

2. The method of welding wire fabric which comprises trimming the twoextremities of fabric to be united by cutting them substantially along aline of the endmost weft thread, placing said extremities in position tobring the free end of each warp thread of one extremity in contact withthe free ends of two warp threads of the other extremity, and joiningthe so contacting ends by welding.

3. The method of welding wire fabric which comprises trimming the twoextremities of fabric to be united by cutting them substantially along aline of the endmost weft thread, placing said extremities in position tobring the free end of each warp thread of one extremity in contact withthe free end of a warp thread of the other extremity, and joining the socontacting ends by welding.

4. The method of welding wire fabric which comprises trimming the twoextremities of fabric to be united by cutting them substantially along aline of the endmost weft thread, placing said extremities in position tobring the free end of each warp thread of one extremity in contact andin line with the free end of a warp thread of the other extremity, andjoining the so contacting ends by butt welding.

5. The method of welding wire fabric which comprises trimming the twoextremities of fabric to be united by cutting them substantially along aline of the endmost weft thread, placing said extremities in position atan angle to one another to bring the free end of each warp thread of oneextremity in contact with the free end of a warp thread of the otherextremity the length of such contacts being approximately equal to thethickness of a weft thread and joining the so contacting ends bywelding, whereby the line of weld takes the place of a weft thread andsimulates the same.

6. The method of welding wire fabric comprising placing the extremitiesto be united in position at an angle to one another with the free end ofeach warp thread of one extremity in alignment with the free end of awarp thread of the other extremity and connecting each warp thread ofone extremity to a warp thread of the other extremity by welding saidends together at a point between two consecutive weft threads; the axesof the individual warp threads of the two extremities lying in a commonplane at the time of welding.

7. The method of connecting two extremities of wire fabric comprisingarranging free ends of the warp threads of one extremity in alignmentwith free ends of the warp threads of the other extremity, the ends ofthe aligned wires substantially contacting with one another, and unitingthe said contacting ends of said wires by welding out of contact withthe weft threads of said extremities.

8. The method of connecting two extremities of wire fabric comprisingarranging each of the axes of the warp threads of one extremity incommon planes, extending at right angles to the planes of the saidextremities, with each of the axes of the warp threads of the otherextremity, the ends of the so-aligned wires substantially contactingwith one another, and uniting the said contacting ends of said wires bywelding.

9. A wire fabric comprising two extremities welded together by a weldingseam parallel to the weft threads, the warp threads of one extremitybeing united individually with and directly to the warp threads of thesecond extremity by welded joints within the space between two adjacentweft threads and out of contact with said weft threads.

10. The wire fabric of claim 9 wherein the individual warp threads ofthe two extremities of fabric are in line.

11. The wire fabric of claim 9 wherein the individual warp threads ofthe two extremities of fabric are in staggered relationship.

12. In the uniting of pieces of wire fabric by welding, the processwhich comprises placing two pieces of wire fabric end to end, the saidtwo pieces being at an angle of less than 180 with each other and thesaid ends having warp wires projecting beyond the end weftwires, anduniting the'ends of said projecting warp wires of said two pieces inpairs by welding within the space between the said end weft wires andout of contact with the said weft threads.

7 13. The process of claim 12 wherein the axes of each pair of warpwires which are united by the welding of said two pieces of fabric liewithin a common plane at right angles to the planes of the said piecesof fabric.

14. The process of claim 12 wherein the ends of the warp wires of saidtwo pieces of fabric are placed in end to end abutment prior to welding.

15. A wire fabric with a transverse joint comprising a welding seamintermediate between and out of contact with the weft threads of saidfabric.

16. A wire fabric consisting of two extremities of wire fabric united bywelding and comprising welded joints, uniting the free ends of thealigned warp threads of said extremities and out of contact with anyweft thread.

